Brandon Overton scored the thrilling win on Saturday night at Modoc
The Drydene Xtreme DIRTcar Series rolled into Modoc Raceway on Saturday night to conclude the mid-winter mini-series. At the end of the night, it was Brandon Overton who claimed the victory after some intense racing in the late stages racing in a race shown live by DirtVision.com. The Evans, GA driver collected $7,000 for his efforts at the South Carolina track.
Chris Madden was crowned as the 2020-21 Xtreme DIRTcar Series champion and awarded $15,000. It was his second title in as many years.
A total of 29 cars signed in for competition series finale.
Christian Hanger was fastest in qualifying with a lap of 16.450 seconds around the 4/10 mile clay oval beating out Ross Bailes, Brandon Overton, Parker Martin, Dustin Mitchell and Matthew Nance.
Christian Hanger won the first heat race of the night ahead of Trent Ivey, Parker Martin, G.R. Smith and Chris Madden.
Ross Bailes took the victory in the second heat topping Dustin Mitchell, Hudson O’Neal, Pearson Lee Williams and Joshua Bishop.
Brandon Overton was the first to the checkered flag in the third and final heat besting Kyle Strickler, Matthew Nance, Cla Knight and Daulton Wilson.
Brett Hamm, Walker Arthur, Garrett Smith, Dillon Brown, and Anthony Sanders made their way into the main event by way of the Last Chance Showdown.
The Xtreme Series redraw set the first three rows as Hanger, Ivey, Mitchell, Strickler, Bailes, and Overton.
At the start of the 40-lap feature it was Hanger who took the early lead with Mitchell, Bailes, Ivey and Strckler. The, Strickler got by Ivey to take fourth on the second circuit with Bailes following to grab third.
Mitchell took the lead away from Hanger on the third lap bringing Bailes along to seize second in the running order. However, a caution for the spinning cars of Brett Hamm and David Yandle brought about a pause in the action.
On the lap 3 restart, Overton moved up to fourth as Strickler was shuffled back in the order. Just two laps later, Bailes closed in on Mitchell and began pressuring the race leader.
By lap 10 the top-5 of Mitchell, Bailes, Hanger, Overton and O’Neal clicked off laps as they ran in single-file order around the bottom of the speedway. At the halfway mark, both Overton and O’Neal slipped by Hanger for third and fourth respectively.
One lap later, Hanger slowed with a flat tire to bring out a yellow flag.
On the restart, Bailes and Overton battled for second just behind Mitchell’s leading car. Bailes maintained the runner-up spot then went after Mitchell. On lap 24, the No. 79 machine took the lead away from Mitchell.
Overton got around Mitchell for second on lap 28. At the same time, series points leader Madden moved to sixth with Strickler, who entered the race second in the standings, just in front.
With the leaders closing in on slower traffic, Bailes and Overton engaged in a thrilling side-by-side fight for the lead with three laps to go. As the cars came to the white flag it was Overton who finally edged ahead and sailed on the claim the win.
Chris Madden’s sixth place finish secured the Xtreme Series title
In victory lane, Overton praised the condition of the track located near his hometown.
“I told them when I practiced over here last night that it ain’t been like this in a long time and I know Jimmy Cushman and everybody involved with Modoc has been working really hard to give all these people that support him every weekend every time he has a race,” the winner said. “It makes me feel good everybody came from my town to pack the stands out. Hell, what a race! Me and Ross raced so good together and that’s awesome, especially here to be able to race side-by-side like that.”
Feature Finish: 1. Brandon Overton, 2. Ross Bailes, 3. Dustin Mitchell, 4. Hudson O’Neal, 5. Kyle Strickler, 6. Chris Madden, 7. G.R. Smith, 8. Matthew Nance, 9. Parker Martin, 10. Daulton Wilson, 11. Pearson Lee Williams, 12. Trent Ivey, 13. Joshua Bishop, 14. Garrett Smith, 15. Anthony Sanders, 16. Adam Yarbrough, 17. Dillon Brown, 18. Tim Vance, 19. David Yandle, 20. Christian Hanger, 21. Cla Knight, 22. Dalton Polston, 23. Walker Arthur, 24. Brett Hamm
